Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit today launched a tirade against former home secretary G.K. Pillai for his latest revelations in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, saying that it was extremely disappointing to see that bureaucrats like the latter change their view depending upon the government.
“Problem with people like Mr. Pillai and thousands of government officials of India is while they are in service, they do exactly what the government says and perhaps what is right and once they retire, they change their view depending upon the government. It shows that how spineless and characterless the bureaucracy has become,” said Dikshit.
“I hope the weakness and the lack of character and strength in Mr. Pillai is only in him and not the general bureaucracy. But it is an extremely disappointing thing. I thought he was a reasonable man but now I think that lure of money, lure of power is too much and way in which bureaucrats start bending is very sad commentary on the Indian bureaucracy,” he added.
The Congress leader further said that the whole issue was whether Ishrat Jahan was legally murdered or killed or was it a shooting of an encounter, insisting that it was not important whether she was a terrorist.
The former home secretary had alleged that Chidambaram as the country’s home minister during the UPA regime ‘bypassed him’ and rewrote an affidavit submitted to a court on Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old student killed in an encounter in 2004.
“I don’t think there is any conclusive evidence against Ishrat Jahan. Unless any proper investigation is carried out, we will have to give her the benefit of doubt,” the retired bureaucrat had said in 2013.
Further Pillai said: “I would say that she knew something was wrong… an unmarried Muslim girl would not go with a married person to different places etc, spend nights outside so far and so forth… perhaps she knew something was happening… she could have been a cover.”
Chidambaram earlier on Monday said the revised affidavit was absolutely correct, adding he accepts full responsibility for the affidavit as a minister.
